Ear piercing systems with hinged hoop earrings

Abstract

A system for providing safe, effective ear-piercing is provided. A hinged hoop earring is provided for use in a stud gun system. The hinged hoop earring can be used in an earring cartridge which fits in a cradle of a stud gun for piercing. A vertically stackable packing box maintains a sterile environment in which the earring cartridge with a hinged hoop earring may be transported and stored. The stud gun can be loaded and unloaded using the packing box in such a way that the operator need not touch the cartridge during either loading or unloading.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation application and claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §120 of the following U.S. patent application, which is incorporated by reference herein:[0002]Application Ser. No. 09 / 929,508, filed Aug. 14, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,796,990, by Vladimir Reil, entitled “EAR PIERCING SYSTEMS WITH HINGED HOOP EARRINGS,” which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09 / 690,311 filed on Oct. 17, 2000 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,599,306.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]1. Field of the Invention[0004]This invention relates to ear-piercing devices and, more particularly, to an ear-piercing cartridge and stud gun system with a stackable packing box for the cartridge.[0005]2. Description of the Related Art[0006]Ear piercing, an increasingly commonplace fashion statement, is rapidly becoming a routine procedures, often performed by laypersons without medical experience or training. Today a number of manually operated devices t...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0015]The present invention solves the preceding problems, representing a quantum improvement in the design and operation of ear-piercing systems. It provides an improved hoop ear-piercing earring design that is fully closeable and that is hinged to allow for free rotation of the hoop. Further, the invention provides an ingenious earring cartridge system that can be adapted for use with hinged hoop earrings of the present invention as well as with traditional symmetrical ear-piercing earrings and that provides for complete and instantaneous release of the cartridge assembly from the stud and nut once the ear is pierced. Additionally, the earring cartridge of the invention allows the technician to exercise continuous control over the ear-piercing process, thereby allowing him to align the stud post and the location to be pierced right up to the point of piercing. This leads to greatly increased accuracy of the ear-piercing process as compared to the prior art. The invention also provides an improved earring nut for use with the traditional ear-piercing earring, which includes a flat shield for isolating the open end of the stud post from the body of the earring wearer. The improved nut design also ensures correct spacing between the head of the stud and the nut, preventing the nut from traveling too far down the stud post and squeezing the pierced area, which can inhibit healing.

[0016]In a general embodiment, the present invention is an earring cartridge and stud gun system for providing sterile ear piercing comprising an earring cartridge carrying a stud having a post in a stud post holder assembly and a nut in slidably aligned, spaced apart, and oppositely opposed placement so that an ear part may be placed between the post and the nut for piercing wherein a torque-like force is produced on the stud post holder assembly causing the assembly to rotatably open after the earring cartridge is compressed to bring the stud towards the nut for engaging the post with the nut. The rotatable opening of the stud post holder assembly facilitates the disengagement of the assembly from the earring stud after the stud has connected to the nut, eliminating the need to touch the ears of the customer to confirm the stud-nut connection or to remove the assembly after the ear piercing is completed.

Problems solved by technology

A primitive hoop earring ear-piercing system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,471 (“the '471 patent”) but the disclosed design is not a fully closeable hoop thereby creating an unsightly design.

This is because the stud post is rigidly attached to the hoop of the stud, which implies that the hoop cannot be rotated to engage the piercing pin.

Further, the open end of the hoop is not adapted to engage the piercing pin (or stud).

Apart from its untoward appearance, the design disclosed in the '471 patent also poses a danger of scratching and injury to the wearer because of the open end of the hoop.

This presents a potential for injury to the wearer of the earring because the open end of the stud post can scratch the wearer's neck behind the ear.

Further, the existing ear-piercing cartridges suffer from a number of drawbacks.

Moreover, the reliance of the '774 patent on the frangible tab has design limitations.

First, the breaking of the tab causes an unwanted noise that is often a source of distress or concern for the customer.

Second, the use of the frangible tab leads to only discrete control over the ear-piercing process.

Thus, it prevents continuous control of the exact location and timing of the ear-piercing process.

Because of the lack of continuous control over the location and timing of the ear-piercing process, the technician who is piercing the ear has to use guesswork to line the stud post with the desired piercing area.

Additionally, the ear-piercing system of the '774 patent and its predecessors have not been designed for use with the novel hinged hoop earrings described above.

While such a packing is a convenient, effective sterilizable packing for the cartridge, it does not provide rigid, vertical stackable storage for earring cartridges.

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